Re: I was almost afraid to click your post ....

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Posted by Michelle B on June 24, 2002 at 07:28:10:

In Reply to: Re: I was almost afraid to click your post .... posted by Scott on June 21, 2002 at 08:09:08:

I guess I need to read iguanas for dummies again, I don't remember the part about being able to see the ovaries. I can tell you this from my experience with females... I don't recall a quadrupling in appetite like you describe, mine are pretty much always ravenous! But, once they are gravid, and the eggs begin to grow, their appetite will drop off, and eventually they may be eating next to nothing. There is just no room in there for a full stomach too. Once the eggs are taking up that much room, you will probably be able to see the eggs in the form of lumps in her belly area. Once they stop eating, I don't mess around, I get them to the vet for a look see. He then can help me determine if we should prepare a nest box for laying, or if things don't look good and I should consider a spay. Either way, you can't wait too long, as becoming egg bound is a concern for an unbred female and can be life threatening. Not trying to scare you, just to let you know it's probably best to get the vet involved if she goes off food for too long.

: According to Melissa Kaplan, she's written several books on igs, females iguana's ovaries begin to enlarge when they mature and start becoming gravid. I don't believe that it is a health issue as she has this on either side of her back near the base of the tail. Both are of the same size and appearance. I have not actually seen a hemipenes just the form of a bulge from within, again near the base of the tail, only on the bottom. As far as the jowl goes, I have not found a good description and or photo of this in any book so as to identify it on my ig. It recently bit me around March and now more recently is nearly quadrupling its food intake suggesting to me that I had a female that was gravid.

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: I guess I need to read iguanas for dummies again, I don't remember the part about being able to see the ovaries. I can tell you this from my experience with females... I don't recall a quadrupling in appetite like you describe, mine are pretty much always ravenous! But, once they are gravid, and the eggs begin to grow, their appetite will drop off, and eventually they may be eating next to nothing. There is just no room in there for a full stomach too. Once the eggs are taking up that much room, you will probably be able to see the eggs in the form of lumps in her belly area. Once they stop eating, I don't mess around, I get them to the vet for a look see. He then can help me determine if we should prepare a nest box for laying, or if things don't look good and I should consider a spay. Either way, you can't wait too long, as becoming egg bound is a concern for an unbred female and can be life threatening. Not trying to scare you, just to let you know it's probably best to get the vet involved if she goes off food for too long. : : : According to Melissa Kaplan, she's written several books on igs, females iguana's ovaries begin to enlarge when they mature and start becoming gravid. I don't believe that it is a health issue as she has this on either side of her back near the base of the tail. Both are of the same size and appearance. I have not actually seen a hemipenes just the form of a bulge from within, again near the base of the tail, only on the bottom. As far as the jowl goes, I have not found a good description and or photo of this in any book so as to identify it on my ig. It recently bit me around March and now more recently is nearly quadrupling its food intake suggesting to me that I had a female that was gravid.

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